America Has Pulled Off the Impossible. It Made Getting a Passport Simple.
Every 10 years, Americans who want to travel the world remember that it’s time to get a new passport. They also remember that getting a new passport is supremely annoying.
The process has been more or less the same for a half-century. Fill out a paper form. Attach a check or money order. Get photos printed—and hope they don’t get rejected. Then schlep to the post office, mail back the old passport and wait too long for a new one. But recently, a team of bureaucrats rolled out a revamped online system to make getting a passport as simple as buying a plane ticket and booking your hotel.
Now you can submit the application on your computer, upload a photo from your phone and pay with your credit card. No paper is necessary. To get a vital document that will accompany you around the world, you don’t even have to leave your kitchen table.
The system has been open to the public for less than a year, but it’s already handling nearly half of all U.S. passport renewals, according to the State Department. And the really wild thing is that people are raving about it. In government surveys, online passport renewal gets positive reviews from 94% of respondents. That’s basically the approval rating of free pizza.
(snip)
Once I confirmed that I met the eligibility criteria, the whole application took 15 minutes from start to finish. At the end, I got an email warning that the routine processing time was four-to-six weeks. This was the only time I felt misled: My new passport arrived in less than two weeks.
https://www.wsj.com/business/us-passport-online-renewal-e58b51d1?st=JdjdD2&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
free
You can renew online if you meet all these requirements:
The passport you are renewing is or was valid for 10 years, and you are age 25 or older.
The passport you are renewing is either expiring within one year or has expired less than five years ago.
You are not changing your name, sex, date of birth, or place of birth.
You are not traveling for at least 6 weeks from the date you will submit your application. We will only offer routine service, and the time it takes to get a passport will be the same as renewing by mail.
You are applying for a regular (tourist) passport. You cannot renew a special issuance (diplomatic, official, service) passport online.
You live in the United States (either state or territory). You do not qualify to renew online if you live in a foreign country or have an Army Post Office (APO), Fleet Post Office (FPO), or Diplomatic Post Office (DPO) address.
You have your passport with you, and it is not damaged or mutilated, and you have not reported it as lost or stolen. Keep your most recent passport and do not mail it to us.
You can pay for your passport using a credit or debit card.
You can upload a digital passport photo.
You are aware that we will cancel the passport you are renewing after you submit your application. You cannot use it for international travel
= new reply since forum marked as read
Or you can ask your representative in the House or the Senate. I bet you they have not been aware of it..
And thanks for the info and link. 
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